War Without End

Has Ill-advised Law Doomed America To Endless War?

Lt. General Richard C. Harding (USAF, Retired)

In his role as Air Force Judge Advocate General, Lt. General Richard C. Harding (USAF, Retired) served as the legal advisor to the Secretary of the Air Force and professionally supervised over 4000 attorneys and legal support personnel. His presentation is enriched by his having witnessed policy makers’ decisions on 9/11, his service in combat theaters, his involvement in decision-making in the Pentagon regarding application of the law of war and his 34+ years on active duty.

General Harding’s presentation offers a fresh and surprising perspective on complex contemporary legal issues associated with the post-9/11 use of military power—how aggressive legal analyses : • facilitated an expansion of Executive power to wage war against unlimited enemies without Congressional authorization and publicly vetted strategies. • authorized targeted killing and signature strikes outside the traditional battlefield. He explains how military commissions work and how the courts have given expansive habeas rights to terrorists. Harding delivers a compelling explanation of how law, history, cultural bias, the lack of transparency, and fear about future attacks on the homeland give rise to ill-advised changes in domestic law and policy, which in turn endangers our national security

Highlights

A view from the bunker on 9/11 – unique insights from one of the U.S. military’s leading lawyers